Technology trends, insights and news

December 16, 2009

Could U.S. Innovation Future Rest on Health Care Passage?

(Jim Hock) The New York Times David Leonhardt writes a fascinating column this week making the case that passage of health care is directly tied to America's innovation and job creation future. Think about it for a second. If potential employees are more worried about their potential health care benefits, it has a distortive effect. The reality is that they should choose a job because of the job and whether their skills match, not because of health care.

Businesses like ours have to forecast in health care cost increases of up to 20% annually. Not many other inputs to our bottom line have that volatility. And have you noticed recently that health insurance premiums have been jacked up again prior to potential reform? Let's face it -- health care is a broken market.

We need reform for a lot of reasons, but in other countries that we are competing with, health care costs less, serves more people (and oftentimes better service).

Mr. Leonhardt is on to something -- 1.5 million people stay in jobs they don't like or want because they are afraid to lose their benefits. It pains us when anyone is out of a job, but just think about the efficiency gains if people could be empowered to make better choices in this tough economy. And get healthier at the same time.

Comments

Great points - except it is all financed with $300 billion annually in Medicare cuts. No one knows where it is coming from - and candid Hill Ds and Rs acknowledge they will simply put it back in to the budget after the bill passes.

So tell me why an an additional $300b annual deficit is good for innovation?

I agree with your point. I think most of workers just concern the salary and their skiil whether fit for the job but skip the health care when they search a job. "Money is rice." If both of them are available, they will consider the health care.

Some voted him to be the first black president and others voted for him out of emotion. They felt that they were tired of Bush and the Republicans so he gave them hope. He basically fed them what the people wanted to hear.

At first I wanted to root for the Dutch, but after the first of their rudeness - the impact on the legs, they are still pretty and I was rooting for the Spaniards. Both teams showed rudeness, but hit in the chest Spaniard boots with studs - at all in any gate.

It seems that the Dutch, their coach, deliberately placed a bet on the super-tough game, like a little intimidated the Spaniards, to break their will

Is not it the judges to provide at least what some cell phone with a large screen so they could watch replays directly to the field and make decisions more objectively, and without wasting time? http://1981crunen.co.cc/cat1.html

However, you should know that Al Gore and others attached to the warming industry are making tens of millions of dollars by investing in companies trading in new technologies. There is big money in play here, as governments are paying billions to clean up dirty industries. T. Boone Pickens has invested big money in wind energy.

If you have unlimited resources as an American you have the best health care in the world. If you are an ordinary citizen you simply don't. Even the average health care plan generally does not cover the basics like European systems do.

My aged mom and dad go to doctors constantly and their doctors charge the government a fortune for every visit ($600 for the dermatologist to touch a liquid-nitrogen-emersed Q-tip to a spot of skin cancer on my mom's back...)

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